1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information-processing apparatus and a cooling system suitable for use in the information-processing apparatus. More particularly, it relates to a personal computer and a cooling system used therein.
2. Description of Related Art
A personal computer has recently improved its performance remarkably. Accompanied by such the improvement, a central processing unit (CPU) has particularly radiated a large amount of heat. Thus, the personal computer preferably has any cooling system for cooling it by radiating such a large amount of heat generated by CPU and the like rapidly outside housing that encloses the CPU, to keep its operation stable.
A high-performance computer, particularly, a desktop computer, which has a large amount of heat, has provided a heat sink, a heat pipe, a cooling fan or the like to force the CPU generating the largest amount of heat among the electronic parts in the computer to be directly cooled. In this case, to take outside air into an interior of the computer 10 to force the CPU to be cooled, a front panel of housing in the computer 10 has provided many openings 12 to take the outside air thereinto (see FIG. 1). The heat sink has connected the CPU through the heat pipe(s) and cools the CPU by exposing the heat sink to the outside air taken from these openings thereinto.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a related computer 20 for showing an example of air intake. The computer 20 has an optical drive 22, a first cooling fan 24, a second cooling fan 26, a third cooling fan 28, hard disk drives 30a, 30b, and 30c, a power unit 32, a heat sink 34, a heat pipe 36, CPU 38, an air intake opening 40, a first vent 42, a second vent 44, and a chassis 46.
The chassis 46 divides an interior space of the computer 20 into upper and lower chambers 48, 50. In the upper chamber 48 above the chassis 46, the first cooling fan 24, the heat sink 34, the heat pipe 36, the CPU 38 are provided near the first vent 42. The first cooling fan 24 takes outside air from the air intake opening 40 into the interior space of the computer 20 and forces the air to circulate, thereby exposing the heat sink 34 to the air. This enables the outside air to which the heat sink 34 is exposed to absorb any heat from the heat sink 34. The first cooling fan 24 exhausts this heat-absorbed air through the first vent 42 toward outside.
In the upper chamber 48, the third cooling fan 28 and the hard disk drives 30a, 30b, and 30c are provided opposite to the CPU 38.
In the lower chamber 50 below the chassis 46, the optical drive 22 is provided near holes 52 of the chassis 46. In the lower chamber 50, the second cooling fan 26 and the power unit 32 are provided near the second vent 44.
The third cooling fan 28 takes outside air from the air intake opening 40 into the interior space of the computer 20 and forces the air to circulate, thereby exposing the hard disk drives 30a, 30b, and 30c to the air. This enables the outside air to which the hard disk drives 30a, 30b, and 30c are exposed to absorb any heat from the hard disk drives 30a, 30b, and 30c. The third cooling fan 28 then forces the heat-absorbed air to circulate through the holes 52, thereby exposing the optical drive 22 to the air. This enables the air to which the optical drive 22 is exposed to absorb any heat further from the optical drive 22.
The second cooling fan 26 forces such the further heat-absorbed air to circulate, thereby exposing the power unit 32 to the air. This enables the air to which the power unit 32 is exposed to absorb any heat from the power unit 32. The second cooling fan 26 then exhausts this heat-absorbed air through the second vent 44 toward outside.
This allows the outside air taken from the air intake opening 40 into an interior space of the computer 20 to cool any electronic parts in the computer 20.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-42973 discloses a computer having such the cooling system. According to the cooling system used in this computer, a side ventilation fan is provided at a side of CPU to cool the CPU. The side ventilation fan creates a flat current of air and sends it to the CPU, thereby exposing the CPU into the air to cool the CPU. This allows the air to circulate smoothly inside the computer, thereby cooling the CPU efficiently.